Too Much To Handle
by dearLea
Summary: Lea never imagined her future would be like this. Future Monchele.


She was so tired, but so happy.  
Those last few weeks had been extremely exhausting so she had decided to stay in bed that morning. Lea reached out her arm and took the remote from her nightstand, and switched on the tv, keeping the volume pretty low. When she founds the news, she tried to keep up with what they were saying, but she couldn't focus. Lea couldn't stay focused on anything but only on what was going on down on her chest. As soon as she looked down, a smile grew across her face. Her eyes fixed on the tiny pair of lips that were sucking on her left nipple. Just the sight of him made her feel so good, so happy. It was her baby, after all; her son.

Lea's pregnancy had not been an accident. She and Cory had been living together for two years before making up their minds and deciding to start a family. But things had changed and life had gotten complicated. Only a few days before taking a pregnancy test and finding out she was pregnant, the couple had had a big fight and Cory had left.  
She had been so emotional over her pregnancy news that she actually thought Cory would come back and they would be able to fix things, but that didn't happen.  
He got sad; he got really sad that they weren't together anymore to share all the beautiful moments that came with a pregnancy. But according to him, there was nothing she could do to fix what she had broken, their relationship. However they would have to deal with each other, since there was no way Cory was going to disappear forever now that they were going to be parents.

And that's how it was.  
Lea lived alone with her son, whereas Cory came over to see him every other day. And today was one of those days.

She heard the door being opened and closed and she knew he'd arrived. His footsteps could be heard until he reached her bedroom and knocked on the door. After a soft 'come in', Lea sat up straight on bed and waited to see him enter the room.  
When he did, he smiled a little and walked to her bed, sitting on the edge and leaning over to take a peek at his baby, who still had his lips around Lea's nipple.

'How's he doing?' Cory asked in a sweet tone.

'Good. He just fell asleep.' She answered as she switched arms and put her shirt back on to cover her breast. 'Wanna hold him?'

He didn't reply. He simply took him in his arms and looked down at him.

'How's it going with you?' Lea asked, waiting for a long answer, or at least an update on his life and his stuff. They weren't together anymore, but she wanted to be able to talk to him, to still count on him as a friend, or as the father of her child.

'Quite alright,' was all he said.

She let out a sigh. She didn't care if he heard her or not. She was tired of trying so hard and not getting anything in return.  
Suddenly, she pushed the covers aside and got up, leaving Cory and the baby alone in her room. Once in the bathroom, she changed her clothes and put her hair up in a messy ponytail, and then came out and stood in front of Cory, waiting for him to look at her.

When a minute passed and he hadn't taken his eyes off the little boy, Lea exhaled deeply and placed her hands on her hips in a defensive pose.

'Listen, Cory, you can't just come to my house and not talk to me. I know you're here to see the baby but,' what was she supposed to say now?, '...you can't keep acting like I'm just no one. I'm your ex girlfriend, I'm the mother of your child.'

'What are you talking about, Lea?'

'Ugh.' He just couldn't see it, could he. All angry, she quickly took the baby off him and placed him in his crib. And then, finally, he looked at her, a confused look on his face. 'Can you please talk to me? I'm tired of always trying to have a conversation with you but getting nothing.'

'I'm here to see my son.' he said drily.

'Clearly.' she then took a step forward and tried to calm down. 'I just... don't want us to be those kind of parents who can't even see each other. I want our kid to see that we can be in the same room and have a simple and nice conversation, a normal relationship, no strings atta-'

'There's no relationship, Lea.' he cut her off. 'We're not a couple, we're not friends. We're just parents of the same kid. And that's all.'

She almost choked. 'W-We can't be friends?' she was on the verge of tears in that moment, anger and sadness taking over her body at the same time, not knowing yet which was winning in that battle of emotions. 'So.. that's how it's going to be? For the rest of... _his_ life?'

He shrugged.

Lea spoke quietly. 'It's been nine months, Cory. You're gonna have to forgive me eventually.'

'I don't really have to if I don't want to.'

As she felt the tears start rolling down her cheeks, she nodded her head and left her own bedroom, walking to the garden where she locked herself out. She sat on the first step that connected the porch to the grass and buried her face in her hands, and cried for the next twenty five minutes.

When she was ready to go back in, she took a few deep breaths and wiped off her face. But at the time she was about to get up, she heard the garden door being closed behind her. She turned around and saw Cory walking towards her. He sat down next to her.

'I'm sorry.'

Another tear threatened to fall as she heard those words coming from him. This time it was her who didn't reply.

'I was very rude in there.' He looked at her, her big brown eyes still watery. 'I forgave you a long time ago, Lea.' That comment surprised her. She had not seen that coming. But what he was about to say caught her so off guard she almost passed out. 'And I still love you. I do.' He sighed. 'But I can't be with someone who has been so mean to someone I really care about.'

She knew that. He had said that a thousand times while they were fighting nine months before. She had crossed a line and she had been punished, which she deserved. But she had apologized to him so many times she didn't know what to do anymore. She'd felt so hopeless and useless as she'd seen him pack his things and leave her.  
And now nine months had gone by and she'd had a baby and still felt as hopeless and useless.

'You still in touch with her?' she asked quietly.

'Of course. She's my friend.'

'She was trying to get into your pants, Co-'

'Stop it. We're not having this discussion again.'

'I just can't believe you fixed things with her but didn't with me.' She wanted to actually yell at him but for once they were actually talking, having a conversation, and she didn't want to ruin it. 'I was your girlfriend in that moment, she was the one threatening our relationship.'

'And that's a strong enough reason to do what you did? You did it out of despair, she did it innocently.' he defended his friend.

'Right.' She said sarcastically. 'I was only trying to protect what we had.'

Cory sighed. Part of him totally understood what she meant; he knew why she did what she did. But it had not been nice and had scared his poor friend for life.  
He never thought Lea would be capable of doing something so mean. And he'd gotten so mad and disappointed in her that he just couldn't look at her in the eye while they were fighting about it. Had he known she was pregnant in that moment, he might have stayed; but he didn't know, and when the news came a week later, he wasn't ready to see her or forgive her just yet. And time had gone by and he had missed so many doctors appointments and his son's first kick, and by the time he'd been born, Cory had learned to live without Lea, to sleep alone again and do everything like he used to before Glee; back to his single life. But that didn't mean he had stopped loving her. He had just gotten used to not having her around anymore; but deep down, Cory knew that he still loved her with every pore on his body.

.../...

Lea was sitting on one of the benches in the park, under the shadow of a big tree. The baby was peacefully sleeping in his stroller, so she was enjoying that beautiful and quiet morning reading a fashion magazine. She smiled sadly as she turned the pages and remembered when she was the one being photographed wearing sexy clothes and laughing and posing in front of the cameras. She missed those days, she truly did. But that had been a chapter of her life that was now over. She was a mom now, and she wouldn't change that for anything in the world; she wouldn't change _him_.  
She peeked over to check up on him. He was so perfect. His tiny hands were resting beside his head as his stomach went up and down at the pace of his quick breathing. The pacifier had fallen off his mouth, and Lea couldn't help but stare at his perfectly shaped lips, his tiny nose sticking out right above them. Oh, how many times she and Cory had discussed over their future children and their noses. While she'd been afraid they were all gonna get her awful but somehow cute nose, he had been happy with the idea. Cory had always had a strange passion for her not so usual nose.  
Oh, Cory, how much she missed him. But she didn't deserve him and at the end of the day, she knew that. She'd stopped fighting for him and trying to win him back when he'd made clear that they were not getting back together just because she was pregnant. She'd been completely heartbroken and with all the pregnancy hormones, she'd needed some extra help to deal with everything. Of course she had never told Cory, she wanted to look like the strong girl she had always been. But her strength had been so weak ever since all that happened; it had almost entirely disappeared. And once the pregnancy was over, Lea realized that Cory had a lot to do when it came to her happiness and strength. Because ever since he'd left her, she had not been the same woman, in any sense.

She was turning the next page of her magazine when she noticed a bigger shadow next to the bench she was sitting on. Taking her eyes off the paper, she looked up to find Cory, who sat down next to her without saying anything.

'Hey. What are you doing here?'

'I knew I'd find you here.' He leaned over to take a look inside the stroller. 'Look at him, so cute in that outfit daddy got him.' He said proudly.

Lea noticed his good mood. She placed the magazine on the bench and focused on him. 'We weren't expecting you.'

Cory finally turned and faced her. 'Yeah, sorry I came without telling you.' He ran his tongue over his lips and fixed his eyes on hers. 'She told me.'

She couldn't help but look down and shake her head. 'I didn't do it for you. I did it for me. It was something I should've done months ago. I apologized for that. It took her a while but she forgave me.'

'I appreciate what you did. It was something she wasn't expecting, that's why it took her a bit to assimilate your apology. But, she was happy you went over there and talked to her.' He gave her an honest smile. 'Thank you, Lea.' He placed his hand on top of hers and squeezed it a little.

In that moment Lea went speechless. The amount of feelings that were rushing down her spine were too overwhelming for her to say something back. Just the gentle touch of his hand was making her feel so light, so peaceful inside, so special. She'd missed him and his touch, him and his ability to make her feel special with a simple gesture.

She cleared her throat. 'Like I said, I did it for me.'

'Still. I appreciate it.' He waited until she looked at him. 'It took you a long while to figure out what to do, but you did it. Remember the other day when you asked me why I never fixed things with you? Here's the answer, Lea. It was you who had to fix things.' He watched her as she nodded her head, understanding. 'And you just did it.'

Lea looked desperately for his hazel eyes. 'I'm sorry it took me so long.'

He smiled. 'Better late than never. We still got a lot to live.' Before Lea could understand what he was implying, the baby started squirming around in the stroller. And that was when Cory added, _'with him', _and finally Lea understood.

By the end of that morning, she left the park in a very different way than a couple of hours before when she'd gotten there. It was her, one of her hands pushing her baby in the stroller, and the other one of her hands holding tightly onto Cory's, fingers intertwined, feelings running up and down their bodies as they felt like the couple they'd once been: strong, united, special.

But this time they weren't just a couple. For the first time, they were a family.


End file.
